Cleveland Cavaliers Are Gambling on Their Biggest Weakness
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers are reigning NBA champions. They have started the season 4-0. They have arguably two of the top-10 players in the NBA. They are as safe a team to mark down for a long playoff run as you’ll find in professional basketball.
But if the Cavaliers have one weakness, one nagging Achilles’ heel that haunts pessimistic Cleveland fans late at night, it’s this—the Cavs have no backup point guard.
“Just learning that position is tough,” said Cleveland coach Ty Lue. “You can’t just throw somebody in a point guard position because it takes time to learn.”
When Cleveland let Matthew Dellavedova walk in free agency, the position was a lesser concern because the team still had Mo Williams. Then Williams retired in September, which left only one point guard on the roster with any NBA experience: Kyrie Irving.
Through four games this season, the first man up to fill the backup role has been Iman Shumpert—a career shooting guard who has averaged 2.0 assists per game since entering the league.
Shumpert, who averaged 5.8 ppg last season, admits 2015-16 was the “worst statistical season of his career,” and he spent the offseason working on his ball-handling and defending both sides of the ball. His defense is part of the reason Lue turned to him first to fill the backup point guard role.
“He can guard anyone being one of our best defenders,” Lue said. “Having a big body like Shump and being able to guard point guards, 2-guards and 3s.”
Offensively, though, the experiment looks like exactly that. Shumpert has seven assists and seven turnovers through four games, though Lue is pleased with his progress.
“He’s going to make mistakes,” Lue said. “I know that. I have to live with that as a coach and so do the players. We understand that. As of right now, he’s been doing a good job, and we have to continue to slow things down.”
Taking it slow is an option the Cavaliers hope they have.
Irving’s relative frailty is the reason the backup point guard position is so important to Cleveland. Through five NBA regular seasons, he’s played more than 70 games during just two of them. And Irving is coming off a year in which he not only had a full playoff run but also competed in the Olympics.
Then there’s the wild card, a player who has logged just five minutes all season and has only dressed for one game. That’s rookie Kay Felder, who made his NBA debut on Saturday but has been inactive in three games this season—two of those because of concussion symptoms.
Felder is the only other true point guard besides Irving on the Cavaliers roster. He’s a 5'9" scoring point guard from Oakland Cleveland liked so much they traded for him on draft day. He also has LeBron James’ blessing.
“I knew everything about him,” James said. “I’ve seen him play live before. Brandon [Weems] has been telling me about him for years. I kept up with him all through college.”
Weems is a former high school teammate of James’, who was an assistant coach at Oakland and is now a Cavaliers scout. While Felder hasn’t done much yet in the NBA, his college play (24.4 ppg as a junior) and work ethic make him a possible option for more minutes down the road.
“The biggest thing with Kay is I want him to be aggressive and attacking the basket,” Lue said. “I want him to play hard. You’re going to make some mistakes. Just play hard, pick up full court, be great defensively, and we’ll figure the rest out.”
If Shumpert and Felder aren’t the long-term or soon-enough answers, respectively, free agency or the trade market are other avenues to explore.
Former Phoenix Sun Archie Goodwin and Brooklyn Net Jarrett Jack are two free agents that could be on Cleveland’s radar. Goodwin has increased his scoring and assist averages in each of his first three seasons but has proved to be more of a shooting guard at this level. Meanwhile, Jack is still rehabbing from knee surgery but has said he might be close to contact practices and played for the Cavs in the dark days of 2013.
With an $11 million trade exception, the Cavaliers could look to other teams’ rosters to fill the backup point guard spot. The Philadelphia 76ers have two quality veteran options in Jerryd Bayless and Sergio Rodriguez, who has just a one-year contract, on their roster.
The Phoenix Suns have their own glut of point guards, but Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight have lengthy and expensive contracts. They are also high-level talents that would likely require a hefty return.
According to Yahoo! Sports, one of the more intriguing names out there on the trade market is Ricky Rubio, but he is also expensive at $13.7 million per season through 2019—and he’s sidelined indefinitely with an elbow injury.
The other side of the question is, what can the Cavaliers trade? The trade exception helps, but Cleveland doesn’t have many expendable players or prospects on their roster.
Their most talented young player is Shumpert, but his defense and versatility make him a valuable commodity as the team looks to repeat. The best route might be giving another franchise salary cap relief and/or trading draft picks.
Still, the Cavaliers appear willing to give Shumpert a shot at the backup point guard role, and it’s too early to tell what they have with Felder. Without many obvious fits in free agency and the trade market, Cleveland might take their time with the backup point guard spot.
CAVALIERS INSIDER NOTEBOOK
Kyrie for MVP?
If there was such a thing as a leading MVP candidate after four regular season games, Irving might be the guy. The standout point guard is averaging a career-best 26.8 ppg. Through the early point of the season, it’s been him, not James, who has looked like the team’s top offensive threat.
So is Irving a serious MVP contender?
“Why not?” He has the ability to lead a team,” James said. “He has the ability to score and get guys the ball. Sky is the limit for the kid. He’s only 23 years old. There’s much more room for improvement. He hasn’t even gotten to his prime yet.”
Defensive Goals
Now in his first full season as Cavaliers head coach, Lue wants to see his team play better defense. Through four games, Cleveland is seventh in the Eastern Conference in points allowed per game (99.5).
Lue, though, has a very particular number in mind to judge his team’s defensive performance.
“When I first came into the league and I had a chance to work under Tom Thibodeau, the goal was always to keep teams under 43.9 percent,” Lue said. “I still live by that. It’s a little higher now. If you keep teams under 44 percent shooting from the field, you have a good chance to win.”
The Cavaliers have reached Lue’s goal in two of four games this season.
Scoring Balance
So far this season, the Cavaliers are the only NBA team to have three players average at least 20 ppg. It’s no surprise those three are Irving, James and Kevin Love.
“I think we have a high winning percentage if we score 20-plus,” Irving said. “If we keep that up, that’d be great, as long as it results in wins and guys are comfortable.”
During all four games, each player has scored at least 18 points, while the three have yet to get 20 points each in the same game.
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